1. Field of the Invention
As used herein, the terms letter, piece of mail or print medium include all types of envelopes or other print recording media. Postal matter, file cards, labels or self-adhesive tapes of paper or similar material can be employed as recording media.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For moderate to high volume of letters or other mailings to be sent, postage meter machines are used in a standard way for franking the mailings. Differing from other printers, a postage meter machine is suitable for processing filled envelopes, potentially even having very different formats.
Modern postage meter machines use digital printer units. For example, the postage meter machine T1000 commercially available from Francotyp-Postalia AG and CO. has a thermal printing unit. With this, it is fundamentally possible to print arbitrary texts and special characters, possibly rotated as well, but only in the franking stamp print area. German OS 42 24 955 discloses circuitry for a switching the postage meter machine to internal cost center printing, with the same print head being utilized for this printing job as for the printing job of franking. This postage meter machine, however, is not able to print an address information.
The postal regulations of most countries also preclude the address information from ensuing at the same level as the franking imprint. Since postage meter machines are not fashioned for printing in the address area of the envelope, an auxiliary means must be utilized for the address printing. This can ensue with standard printer units that are either built into an office printer (for example laser printers) or in specific addressing machines that, for example, print an address label with a thermal printer unit. Such standard printer units, however, are either too slow or do not allow the processing of filled envelopes differing in size (mixed mail). The address imprints are usually applied onto the unfilled envelope by separate, fast addressing machines. Numerous letters, particularly business mail, are mailed with window envelopes, whereby the address is already printed on the letter and is visible through an envelope window. This type of letter, however, makes an impersonal impression and is considered unsuitable for advertizing purposes (direct marketing) (see German OS 38 08 178). Consequently, the use of separate, specific addressing machines for filled envelopes is nonetheless desired.
Apart from the problems of developing matched machines for a system processing mixed mail, the employment of two separately working machines in a system for mail processing represents a considerable investment. In addition to the floor or counter space required for two machines, there is also a doubled maintenance outlay. That increases the costs of such systems.
In general, a mail processing system is composed of a number of different devices, for example an automatic feeder station, a dynamic scale, a postage meter machine and a letter deposit. The devices are either centrally controlled or enter into communication with one another. Some mail processing machines are also composed of stations having their own intelligence. The base station of the system is a postage meter machine, for example a JetMail(copyright) unit commercially available from Francotyp-Postalia AG and Co., that can also be controlled by a personal computer, as disclosed in detail, for example, in German Application 197 11 998.0. The processing of filled letters of different thickness and different formats given medium through high shipping volumes can ensue with this unit.
In an embodiment of the JetMail(copyright) printer device has for use given a non-horizontal, approximately vertical letter transport, a franking and address printing are enabled with a common ink jet print head which is adjustable in position behind a guide plate between two recesses or with two separate ink jet print heads (German PS 196 05 014 and German PS 196 05 015). The mechanism for the version with a common, adjustable ink jet print head would have to be driven such that the letter transport is interrupted and an adjustment into a second position ensues after the printing of the first print format has been ended. The printing could then be continued. In this second position, however, an ink jet print head cannot be sealed by a corresponding clearing and sealing station. It would first have to be moved back in the Y-direction into the first position.
This second position does not allow the printing of a long second print format for the address when the first print format to be printed during letter movement in the transport direction (X-direction) already has a long length, i.e. it includes, for example, a franking stamp, municipality name/date stamp and an advertizing slogan and a further field for a shipping information or personal message. The width of the second print format lying orthogonal to the transport direction, i.e. in the Y-direction, is limited. The remaining space may not be enough for the second print format. If the length for the second print format could be longer, this would appear as an overlap from a vertical point of view, i.e. opposite the Y-direction. Such a vertical overlap, however, can be generated with two ink jet print heads since the printing of the second print format would have to begin before the printing of the first print format has been ended.
For this other version with two ink jet print heads, however, two cleaning and sealing stations and corresponding actuators, sensors, control and ink delivery means would also be required to be doubly implemented. It is currently still difficult to economically manufacture reliable ink jet print heads with large printing width and high resolution. An economical postage meter machine cannot be manufactured embodying such a redundancy of components.
An object of the invention is to create an economic mail processing system with a machine that is flexibly designed for various printing jobs. The system should enable the printing of print imprint formats that overlap from a vertical point of view.
Another object of is to provide an arrangement for a printer device and a method for printing on a print medium by non-contacting printing with an ink print head that allow at least the printing of two print imprint formats at a distance from one another with only a single stationary print head that has a standardized printing width, without additional moving machine elements being required in the printer device. The machine should be able to frank and address outgoing mail. The mechanism should nonetheless be as simple as possible.
These objects are achieved in accordance with the invention in a mail processing system having a printer device and a turning station with which a print medium can be rotated by approximately 180xc2x0 before or after printing, the turning station being arranged in the mail processing system preceding or following the printer device. These objects are also achieved in a method for operating such a mail processing system. Both printing jobs for the above functions of franking or addressing are inventively sequentially implemented. Only a single printer device suitable for a digital printing is thereby employed, this being controlled by a control unit that also controls the turning station via an interface such that the print media are applied to the digital printer device rotated in a predetermined way. The print media are preferably letters, particularly filled envelopes with different size and weight (mixed mail). At least two passes of the same envelope through the printer device thereby ensue for the implementation of two different printing jobs with one and the same printer device, with the envelope for at least one printing job being rotated by 180xc2x0 in the plane of its flat sides.
The control unit connected to the turning station by interfaces controls the turning station such that the envelopes are applied to the digital printer device rotated in a predetermined way. Sensors that are connected to the control unit are arranged at that side of the franking and addressing machine at which the envelopes (print media) are applied. The control unit is programmed to switch the printer device between the corresponding modes for the respective printing job, with a correspondingly modified print control being provided for the at least one printing job. The control unit of the printer device may control further stations of the mail processing system via a further interface. The control unit is capable of generating one of the address or franking print formats and for implementing a pass for a corresponding printing, so that the printer means is charged with a print format turned by 180xc2x0 compared to the other print format. By using electronic sensors and electronic control procedures, the invention advantageously avoids a necessity for any significant mechanical modifications with respect to the guide plate for two printer heads, or a need for additional moving machine elements in the printer for the common print head.
After the first pass of the letter through the printer device for printing the first print format, the letter, rotated by 180xc2x0 in the plane of its flat sides by a turning station, is applied to the printer device so that, given corresponding control of the print signals, the same print head prints the second print format rotated by 180xc2x0 relative to the first print format. The renewed application to the printer device can occur in two method versions:
1st version: After rotation, the letter is applied to the side (called right side below) of the machine that it exited in the first pass.
2nd version: After rotation, the letter is applied to the same side (left side) as in the first pass.
The system with the inventive arrangement composed at least of the aforementioned two stations is correspondingly switchable. It can be individually operated either as a franking system or as an addressing system, or as a combination of franking and addressing systems. One or more passes without a printing can be made in addition to the passes with a printing corresponding to a respective printing job. This makes it possible to insert the envelope or to exit the printer device at another of the two possible sides as needed.
Advantageously, the arrangement requires neither a further ink jet print head in the printer device of the postage meter machine base station nor a further printing station for handling an additional printing job. The printer device is provided, in particular, for printing letters and is thus a component of a combined franking/addressing machine that represents the base station of the overall system. In a standard way, the letter transport mechanism of the printer device proceeds downstream and is mechanically fashioned such that the letter transport direction can be easily reversed. After a directional reverse of the transport direction, the letter is transported upstream.
Further, known stations can be arranged in the mail processing system in addition to the inventive letter turning station. In an alternative to the first version, a return of the mail stream to the entry location ensues outside of the printer device rather than within the printer device. A turning station can be arranged in the return loop at an arbitrarily selectable location, or can be integrated into a suitable station. The construction of the mail processing system of suitable stations and a turning station advantageously enable an economic adaptation of the systems to different customer requirements.